Path
by Brian1
Summary: Rukia wonders if the path she set Ichigo on was the right one.


**Path**

"Where are you going?"

He looked at her as if she was stupid, which he figured was true most of the time. "I'm going out."

She gave him a pensive look, and he couldn't help but stop to hear what she was going to say. "Ichigo…"

"Rukia?" he replied, caught off guard by the tone in her voice. She sounded different…vulnerable, if such a word could be applied to her.

She paused, staring at him with those big blue eyes of hers that seemed do drill into his very soul. It was cause of those damn things that he could never look her straight in the eye. It made him feel uncomfortable in a way he couldn't quite put his finger on.

In fact, a lot of the time she made him feel all sorts of uncomfortable feelings. There was the sleeping in his room, for one thing. She should've been thankful that he wasn't a pervert like Keigo, or he might've snuck a peek at her while she was sleeping.

That pensive look was still on her face and it was starting to really irritate him…and at the same time worry him.

"Ichigo…" she said once more, her voice drifting, her eyes firmly locked on his.

She seemed like something was really bothering her, and if something was bothering her it was likely to bother him too, in the shape of either her brother returning to kick his ass or something equally bothersome. It was just his luck that the first girl to be in his room happened to have links to very dangerous men with large, sharp and pointy swords.

Swords, he mused, that occasionally talked back to their owners. Or at least, cut the owner if given the opportunity. That reminded him, he really needed to get back at Zangetsu one of these days for that fight they had back in Soul Society. Sure, it had given him Bankai and all, but goddamn it that was a pain in the ass!

Rukia was staring up at him now, and he was starting to feel red in the face. Was she using demon arts on him? She better not, or he'd kick her ass again like he did when she first tried that sort of crap when they met.

"Don't go," she said quietly, now turned away from him, as if she was hiding something. "Just stay home today. You always go out."

He raised an eyebrow at that remark. Since when did she ever care about him staying home? If anything, she was the reason he was out as much as he was!

He scoffed at her and crossed his arms defiantly. "Yeah, well, I need to run an errand for the clinic. I shouldn't be long."

Instead of barking some lame excuse at him like usual, she remained quiet and looked at the floor instead. "I see. When will you be back?"

He paused, counting in his head. "I'd say about an hour, maybe an hour and a half?"

She grabbed his hand and placed a wooden object on his palm. He looked at it warily and found that it was his soul reaper representative emblem.

"Just in case," she said for him, "because Kon would be too hard to bring along, and…you won't be gone for long, right?"

"Right," he said, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. He wanted to go, but at the same time he wanted to stay and ask her what was bugging her.

Ultimately, he decided that midget wouldn't tell him anyways, because she was as damn stubborn as he was when she wanted to be.

"Which path are you taking, by the way?" she asked as he hovered near the doorway.

"The main street," was his automatic response, not realizing the significance of her question as he left.

As she watched him leave, she wondered again if giving him powers was the right thing to do. The look in his eyes, that desperate need to protect those he loved, was now replaced by that of a confidence in himself, the confidence that he could protect those that he cared about with his own hands.

But did she have the right to set him on the path of death? The life of a Soul Reaper was not an easy one…it could easily involve killing someone you might know, someone you might even love.

He might be forced to kill his family and friends one day, if a Hollow or some other ungodly creature managed to get a hold of one of them.

She really had no right to give him the power he had now. It was a crime in Soul Society to give the power of death to one that was still living (of course, Ichigo and the rest of his friends found that out the hard way).

There was a reason for that: the living weren't ready to be so involved with death. It was a simple matter of balance between the living and spirit world. The living…lived…and the dead…dealt with death.

Being in an artificial body was beginning to take its toll on her mind.

She was ashamed to admit it, but lately she had been developing feelings towards Ichigo, feelings she didn't want or need for him. She was a powerful Soul Reaper, not some emotionally driven woman like the ones she had seen on television.

Was it because he reminded her so much of…him? The answer: probably, although they weren't completely alike. Ichigo was different, but in a good way that made her feel different whenever he was around.

She would listen to Inoue talking about the bleach haired boy, and decided that all the nice things she said about him were things she reluctantly agreed with. He had really grown on her the past year, especially after what he had done back in Soul Society.

Thought he only knew her for two months, he gave everything he had and then some in order to protect her. Two months, she later told him, was hardly a good amount of time to really get to know someone.

"For someone who's been alive for more than a hundred years you sure are dense," was his sardonic response to her statement.

She sighed; having a heartbeat again was making her think too much. She would have to ask that bum Urahara to fix whatever was wrong with her later.

For now, she would wait near the doorway for Ichigo to return, hoping that the path she set him on was ultimately the right one.

**End**


End file.
